Mayor’s budget proposes area commissions council
Some neighborhood leaders and residents say Columbus officials don’t listen to their needs.
A proposal in Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s budget would attempt to correct that by calling for a new council of area commissions. The leaders of each of the 19 area commissions would meet at least once a year and perhaps as often as each quarter to talk about issues and problems for the city to address.
“When things come up ... let’s meet as a group,” said Carla Williams-Scott, the director of the city’s Department of Neighborhoods.
A joint meeting with the department could help find solutions to common problems in all neighborhoods, said Robin Davis, Ginther’s spokeswoman.
Williams-Scott said it doesn’t have anything to do with trying to tamp down a movement to create city council districts, where members would represent a particular area of town.
The area commissions don’t cover all of the 223 square miles of Columbus. They were established in the 1970s to act as liaisons among neighborhoods, property owners, developers, residents and the city. They recommend zoning changes to city officials, and some commissions are more active and involved than others.
The city is now the nation’s 14th largest, with an estimated 860,000 residents.
Jasmine Ayres, who ran for City Council this year as part of the unsuccessful Yes We Can slate of Democratic candidates challenging the party’s establishment, said one of the frustrations she has is that while city officials often engage in good conversations with residents, they don’t follow through with what people were requesting.
“Whatever comes out of somebody’s mouth, check the budget,” she said.
Kieran Cartharn, a 20-year-old Republican who ran for a Columbus City Council seat this year and lost, said people feel their voices aren’t being heard.
“I ran on giving neighborhoods more representation,” Cartharn said. “Columbus is getting too big to have seven city council members. We can’t keep dodging this issue. There needs to be wards.”
But in July, the City Council tabled a proposal to divide the city into council districts, with members continuing to be elected citywide, because the council was short of the five votes needed to put such a charter change on the ballot.
Some area commissioners told The Dispatch they knew nothing of the mayor’s proposal.
Libby Wetherholt, who leads the Clintonville Area Commission, said she thinks the idea is a good one. She said she recently sat at a dinner with Tiffany White of the North Central Area Commission, which covers part of the Northeast Side.
“We had a wonderful talk. It was definitely eye-opening to hear about the problems they’re dealing with,” Wetherholt said. “I think it’s good to talk about concerns and things that are happening.”
Franklinton Area Commissioner Judyth Box said neighborhoods share many common problems, such as trash, drugs, prostitution, potholes and a lack of jobs.
Doreen Uhas Sauer, who leads the University Area Commission, said it makes sense to develop a more grass-roots approach to dealing with the budget. “I think this idea of having some kind of advisory committee or leadership would be a wonderful idea, actually,” she said.